Active Member

After reading all of the horror stories about ordering and delivery on this and other forums, I prepared myself to be patient. I reserved in July 2017, ordered June 30th, 2018, switched back and forth between RWD and AWD several times on July 5th, and took delivery of my beautiful blue RWD today, July 31st. His name is Nik.

I financed with a credit union that required a copy of the contract before they would fund, so that was my first source of worry. When I told my ISA about my nervousness, she signed the pro forma MVPA herself and sent me a copy which my credit union accepted. I had my cashier's check in hand 5 days before my scheduled delivery. Tesla did send me the contract to sign 2 days before my delivery, but I did not get it back with their signature until after delivery. I feel for those of you in Texas!

Financing complete, I switched my worry to finding flaws in the vehicle at delivery. I studied the checklists folks have posted on the forums so I would know what to look for. Honestly though, the value of this car to me is under the skin, not on the surface. Being a autonomous vehicle software engineer myself and having friends in Tesla Engineering, I am very excited about the powertrain, battery, and software in this vehicle much more than the quality of the paint job. Tesla has recruited an awesome engineering team that have invented some cool stuff after the old school automotive industry told them they couldn't. That's what I feel like I am buying with my $60,000. That said, I didn't want anything to fall of on my way home

Lastly, there have been reports of big delays and unhappy customers at the delivery centers so I took the day off from work and wore comfy clothes.

I arrived at the delivery center at 11:00am, 15 minutes before our scheduled appointment. We quickly found our car and fawned over it while waiting for our delivery specialist, who was 5 minutes late. They were busy, but not chaotic. Smiles all around. If I haden't already had my morning coffee, I would have tried the Tesla Blend. I set my 8-year old son loose to inspect the vehicle in detail and report back. We found a small glob of something on the inside glass that I could not scrape off. The delivery specialist brought out a small spray bottle (secret Tesla solvent?) and a hand towel and cleaned it up quickly. There was also a rough spot on the bottom edge of the front passenger side door. The paint was not scratched so it looks like minor damage to the door before painting. It's tough to notice unless you run your fingers over it. I elected to not do anything about it. I consider it to be a badge of courage indicating that Nik survived his trip through the Fremont factory We were out by 11:45.

This is an awesome car! My only complaints are the lack of detailed energy info (no instantaneous Wh/mi??) and the fact that I have to wait up to 48 hours for the app to start working on my phone. The key cards work very well though, even from inside my wallet (I made sure it was close to the outside of the wallet when folded and with the 'Tesla' label on the card facing inwards.

I come from 7 years in a LEAF so I already had the EV grin, but this car is something else. My LEAF topped out at 94 MPH, but it's easy to get to 100 quick in the Model 3 and without feeling like you are going that fast if you don't watch the spedo. This car wants to go! I've read that an update nerfed the RWD from a 0-60 time of ~4.6-4.8 up to the adverised 5.1. I have only experienced the nerfed version, but full acceleration really pushes the stock 18" wheels to their limits (a bit of slip) especially if not going straight. Steering feels a little bit loose to me, even in sport mode, like there's just a bit too much play. It's very subtle though, and I may just need to get used to it.

We live about 20 miles from the Fremont factory and the autopilot camera calibration was just finishing as we approached our exit. Because of that, and the fact that I still had plenty of range left (delivered with ~180 miles), we decided to keep going down 101. I engaged longitudinal control (TACC) and lateral control (auto-steer) and sat back to enjoy. Auto-steer tries a bit too hard to stay in the center of the lane, even if the 'lane' is extra wide because of a merge lane. Nothing so bad that I had to take over though. It was great fun to watch Nik learn to drive and I will be using this feature extensively on my rush hour commute.

Top-Contributor

Were the minor issues such as the glob on the glass and the minor defect painted over at the bottom of the passenger door the only things you found? If so, sounds like the quality is generally excellent!

I too care a lot more about the mechanical, electrical and software/neural network goodness than details like finish, interior materials, etc., but after inspecting dozens of Model 3s, the latter seem very good to me.

Active Member

Were the minor issues such as the glob on the glass and the minor defect painted over at the bottom of the passenger door the only things you found? If so, sounds like the quality is generally excellent!.

This is exactly what I tell people. I drive a car with an electric powertrain! The fit and finish may not be perfect, but it doesn't need to be. That being said, having had the car for 3 weeks I know where the imperfections reside, but I doubt a casual observer could spot them.

Top-Contributor

This is exactly what I tell people. I drive a car with an electric powertrain! The fit and finish may not be perfect, but it doesn't need to be. That being said, having had the car for 3 weeks I know where the imperfections reside, but I doubt a casual observer could spot them.

My impression of recent Model 3 fit and finish is that they're nearly, but not quite, perfect. If you don't mind revealing, what imperfections did you find? How significant were they?

All Teslas are excellent, in large part because they're electric. And by that I mean they drive very well and feel great, in addition to being highly energy efficient. All EVs do the latter; Tesla does both great driving and great efficiency.

There's a quarter sized blemish in the top coat on the front right fender near where it joins the bumper cover. I lightly polished the area and it looks better. Only upon close examination would somebody see it.

The top coat is thin, little more than overspray, on the front bumper in the area just upstream of the air inlet.

Overall the paint top coat has some zones of orange peel. However, it's not as bad as a BMW from ~2009. I remember visiting a BMW dealership back then and couldn't believe my eyes. The paint jobs on every car there were horrible! Also, the car that my Model 3 replaced was a 2007 Audi A8L, and the paint on that car was perfect. So that's my frame of reference.

Where the front fenders meet the A pillar the alignment could be better.

The lower edge of the headlights protrudes about 1-2 mm from the front bumper cover.

I think that 99% of the population wouldn't notice any of these items unless you pointed them out.

Top-Contributor

There's a quarter sized blemish in the top coat on the front right fender near where it joins the bumper cover. I lightly polished the area and it looks better. Only upon close examination would somebody see it.

The top coat is thin, little more than overspray, on the front bumper in the area just upstream of the air inlet.

Overall the paint top coat has some zones of orange peel. However, it's not as bad as a BMW from ~2009. I remember visiting a BMW dealership back then and couldn't believe my eyes. The paint jobs on every car there were horrible! Also, the car that my Model 3 replaced was a 2007 Audi A8L, and the paint on that car was perfect. So that's my frame of reference.

Where the front fenders meet the A pillar the alignment could be better.

The lower edge of the headlights protrudes about 1-2 mm from the front bumper cover.

I think that 99% of the population wouldn't notice any of these items unless you pointed them out.

Thanks for the info. For the front bumper area, do you mean on the front vertical surface or on the top of the opening itself? If the latter, it may not normally be visible, and may not get fully painted (though I'd like it to be too).

Regarding orange peel, according to a friend who was a fairly important engineer in the car industry, he said all modern production cars have slight orange peel by design, to hide (potential) metal flaws. That mostly agrees with this, which suggests that only a few very high end cars (Like your A8L or Aston Martins.) get factory color sanding. Most cars do not:

Agree some of the panel alignments aren't perfect, and the A-pillar sometime seems a fraction of a millimeter too high to me, or the fender next to it is slightly low. Could be some tolerances in the metal stamping dies still need to be dialed in a little better, or the assembly isn't perfect.

Regarding the headlight, I actually think those are used as aerodynamic devices called vortex generators and are designed to stick up into the wind a couple mm to shape the airflow around the fenders and body sides. See:

Legendary Member

Agree some of the panel alignments aren't perfect, and the A-pillar sometime seems a fraction of a millimeter too high to me, or the fender next to it is slightly low. Could be some tolerances in the metal stamping dies still need to be dialed in a little better, or the assembly isn't perfect.

Regarding the headlight, I actually think those are used as aerodynamic devices called vortex generators and are designed to stick up into the wind a couple mm to shape the airflow around the fenders and body sides. See:

Tech Founder

I went with a friend recently to pick up his Model 3. He is one of those people who really doesn't care about the details, so the LAST thing I was going to do was to tell him about the two small imperfections on his car as we gave it a once over (one a paint blotch, one a dent). My philosophy? If he didn't notice them, I wasn't going to spoil his feelings about the car by drawing his attention to them.

"Hunting for imperfections" has already become a bit of a tenacious joy-killing virus among Tesla enthusiasts. Since he doesn't haunt the forums, I wasn't about to pass that disease along to him. He and his family were over the moon happy when they got it.

They felt like it was perfect.

And thus... it was.

Postscript: shortly after delivery, one of my buddy's family members scraped the nose of his car on their garage, effectively erasing one of the defects. Which, if you think about it deeply, is a good lesson in perspective: those small imperfections are nothing compared to what you and friendly distracted parkers around you may do the car in short order. It's a lesson in false precision.

Top-Contributor

We picked up our new Model 3 Performance at 11:30am on Friday (which I now am speculating is one of the busier days?)- I should say the appointment was 11:30 but we were delayed perhaps 20mins and it took a little over an hour to complete it all.

The place was a little crazy. New cars up and down the front parking area, people milling about and outside tables with umbrellas - one was at the parking lot entrance to check you in - that's how crowded it was and their crowd control efforts. You had to check out as well so they know the car is with proper owner vs theft *I guess*.

Found our car directly out front of the main entrance and checked it over - car has 2 minor issues: rear bumper not adjusted perfectly right near the charge door and the trim on the pass side rear door (or the door itself) is off slightly.

A little history - we had a 3 RWD that we picked up as this same center in January. It needed a similar adjustment on the driver's side rear pass door trim. Really liked that car, it went on a road trip from San Jose to San Diego and another to Las Vegas + Valley of Fire. Wonderful road trip car, the super charger network is a game charger for EVs and longer trips I think... Knew when we got this car that AWD would be coming but silly me, we didn't expect the performance model ...

So then performance version gets announced and the 2nd reservation is put into action. When Tesla opened up orders, boom we're on it and ordered a red Performance, black interior - much fretting about whether to add the plus and in the end did not (20" rims are asking to be curbed to death in this household). Yes, if you paid attention the new car is essentially the same as the old one, stealth in the neighborhood

So on Friday we get the new car, driving there in the 'old' one - then drive 1.5 miles or something to Tesla service where the 19" rims on the RWD drive are swapped onto the Performance. Then off to drop the 'old' car for new owner.

Can't say I could really detect any difference in that sedate driving between 18/19 tires on the Performance car in that short drive but I do feel the added weight up front. Family notices the difference in the rear seats, not as obvious to me in the front - perhaps more cushy? I really liked the original ones so next road trip will tell there.

Family says this car's acceleration feels like how a roller coaster feels after you crest the long uphill. Borrowed this link from another forum member

it's not an inaccurate feeling though I've yet to do a dead-stop full send. There are zero passing worries on the highway though

Tech Founder

We picked up our new Model 3 Performance at 11:30am on Friday (which I now am speculating is one of the busier days?)- I should say the appointment was 11:30 but we were delayed perhaps 20mins and it took a little over an hour to complete it all.

The place was a little crazy. New cars up and down the front parking area, people milling about and outside tables with umbrellas - one was at the parking lot entrance to check you in - that's how crowded it was and their crowd control efforts. You had to check out as well so they know the car is with proper owner vs theft *I guess*.

Found our car directly out front of the main entrance and checked it over - car has 2 minor issues: rear bumper not adjusted perfectly right near the charge door and the trim on the pass side rear door (or the door itself) is off slightly.

A little history - we had a 3 RWD that we picked up as this same center in January. It needed a similar adjustment on the driver's side rear pass door trim. Really liked that car, it went on a road trip from San Jose to San Diego and another to Las Vegas + Valley of Fire. Wonderful road trip car, the super charger network is a game charger for EVs and longer trips I think... Knew when we got this car that AWD would be coming but silly me, we didn't expect the performance model ...

So then performance version gets announced and the 2nd reservation is put into action. When Tesla opened up orders, boom we're on it and ordered a red Performance, black interior - much fretting about whether to add the plus and in the end did not (20" rims are asking to be curbed to death in this household). Yes, if you paid attention the new car is essentially the same as the old one, stealth in the neighborhood

So on Friday we get the new car, driving there in the 'old' one - then drive 1.5 miles or something to Tesla service where the 19" rims on the RWD drive are swapped onto the Performance. Then off to drop the 'old' car for new owner.

Can't say I could really detect any difference in that sedate driving between 18/19 tires on the Performance car in that short drive but I do feel the added weight up front. Family notices the difference in the rear seats, not as obvious to me in the front - perhaps more cushy? I really liked the original ones so next road trip will tell there.

Family says this car's acceleration feels like how a roller coaster feels after you crest the long uphill. Borrowed this link from another forum member

it's not an inaccurate feeling though I've yet to do a dead-stop full send. There are zero passing worries on the highway though

My advice is
- don't be dissuaded by folks 'demanding' you must discount your car by the fed tax ($7500); it may reduce your buyer pool but it's not a given reduction in car value
- price fairly given miles, new car depreciation etc
- check vroom, shift, givemethevin etc sites if you want the least amount of friction; I also had good luck with my roadster on CarGurus